ALEMBIC

Alembic

An alembic is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, used for distilling chemicals. Technically, the alembic is the lid with a tube attachment, which is placed on top of a flask, the cucurbit, containing the material to be distilled, but the word is often used to refer to the entire distillation apparatus. If the lid and flask are in one piece, it may be called a retort. The liquid in the cucurbit flask is heated or boiled; the vapour rises into the alembic hood, where it cools by contact with the walls and condenses, running down the spout into a receiving flask.

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alembic

Noun

  1. An early chemical apparatus, consisting of two retorts connected by a tube, used to purify substances by distillation
    • 1973: We of all magical precipitates out of Europe’s groaning, clouded alembic, we are the thinnest, the most dangerous, the handiest to secular uses — Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: alembic
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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